Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the important issue of foster care and the need to recruit, retain and support foster families. What better time than during National Foster Care Month. Foster parents make a significant and meaningful difference in the lives of so many vulnerable children by opening their hearts and homes. But we continue to struggle to recruit and retain enough foster families to ensure each child is placed in a family-like setting. This is particularly true for Native American kids who are in foster care at rates dramatically higher than others.

Caring for a child in foster care can be more expensive than caring for one's own biological children. Children placed into foster care often have experienced significant emotional and physical trauma and have higher incidences of medical and behavioral health issues, resulting in additional costs to parents. Unfortunately, too many caring foster parents struggle financially because Federal and State programs that reimburse parents for a child's daily living costs do not provide for the real cost of caring for the child. A 2007 study of State foster care programs, conducted by the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Children's Rights, and the National Foster Parent Association, found that current foster care rates would have to increase on average 36 percent nationwide to provide for basic care.

A 2002 report by the Department of Health and Human Services' Inspector General found that foster parents' expenses often exceed foster care reimbursement rates, leading foster parents to pay out-of-pocket to meet foster children's basic needs. Some benefits already exist in the current tax code to support these families, but few are aware of their existence or utilize them.

Today I am introducing the Foster Care Tax Credit Act to provide additional tax relief for foster families to help cover the actual costs of caring for a foster child. This legislation also requests additional outreach and education by the Department of Health and Human Services to better equip State and Tribal foster agencies and foster families to take advantage of all tax benefits available. I thank my colleague, Senator KAINE, for joining me in this effort.

As we continue working towards the goals of improving child welfare, I hope more of my colleagues will join me in seeking to provide additional support for families caring for foster children.

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